Free calculator
Material participation hours check
Your hours on the property against the busiest other person's, usually the cleaner: turnovers x hours per turnover. Two of the seven material participation tests of Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(a): more than 500 hours, or more than 100 hours and not less than anyone else.
Sample data: a made-up rental with 13 turnovers. Your own properties and their check-outs appear here once you use the export tool.
Your hours and the cleaner's estimate stay in this browser.
Result
- Test 3: more than 100 h and not less than anyone
- Met
- Test 1: more than 500 h
- Not met
- Your hours
- 120 h
- Busiest other individual
- 39 h (each cleaner)
- Cleaner hours, all turnovers
- 39 h (13 x 3)
- For test 3 you need
- > 100 h and ≥ 39 h
These are two of the seven tests in §1.469-5T(a). Meeting one of them is material participation for the year; failing both does not rule out the other five. The cleaner's hours are your estimate. Arithmetic, not tax advice: confirm with your CPA.
Your CPA will ask for these numbers. Pro hands them over.
An Excel file with live formulas (a sheet per property, the tests, the expense share), an hours log with one row per turnover, and a one-page printable summary with the rule citations.
How it works
Test 1: more than 500 hours in the year. Test 3: more than 100 hours and not less than the participation of any other individual, owners or not. Each cleaner is an individual: with one cleaner doing every turnover, that cleaner's hours are turnovers x hours per turnover; with two sharing evenly, half each. A co-host or manager is another individual. "Not less than" means equal hours still pass.
Sample data: 13 turnovers x 3 hours = 39 cleaner hours. An owner with 120 hours has more than 100 and more than the cleaner: test 3 met, test 1 not.
For a married individual, any participation by the spouse in the activity during the year counts as the individual's participation, whether or not the spouse owns an interest and whether or not they file jointly.
Work done as an investor (reviewing financial statements, preparing summaries for your own use, monitoring finances in a non-managerial capacity) is not participation unless you are directly involved in day-to-day management or operations.
Participation may be established by any reasonable means; contemporaneous daily time reports or logs are not required if other reasonable means (appointment books, calendars, narrative summaries) establish it.
The seven tests of §1.469-5T(a), of which the tool computes 1 and 3:
- (1) More than 500 hours during the year
- (2) Your participation is substantially all of the participation of all individuals
- (3) More than 100 hours and not less than any other individual
- (4) Significant participation activities adding up to more than 500 hours
- (5) Material participation in any 5 of the 10 preceding years
- (6) Personal service activity: material participation in any 3 preceding years
- (7) Regular, continuous and substantial participation on all the facts and circumstances
Each property is its own activity here. If your CPA groups several properties as one activity, their hours add up and the test is run on the group: that election is outside the tool.
Sources of the rules
- Test 1: Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(a)(1): material participation if "the individual participates in the activity for more than 500 hours during such year" — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.469-5T, read on 2026-09-30
- Test 3: Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(a)(3): material participation if the individual participates "for more than 100 hours during the taxable year, and such individual's participation in the activity for the taxable year is not less than the participation in the activity of any other individual (including individuals who are not owners of interests in the activity)" — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.469-5T, read on 2026-09-30
- The seven tests: Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(a)(1)-(7) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.469-5T, read on 2026-09-30
- Spouse's hours: Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(3) Participation of spouse — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.469-5T, read on 2026-09-30
- Investor-type work: Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii) — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.469-5T, read on 2026-09-30
- Proof of hours: Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(f)(4) Methods of proof — https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/section-1.469-5T, read on 2026-09-30
Frequently asked questions
- What is the 100-hour rule for short-term rentals?
- Test 3 of Treas. Reg. §1.469-5T(a): you materially participate if you put in more than 100 hours in the year and no other individual, including your cleaner or a manager, puts in more than you.
- Do my cleaner's hours count against me?
- Yes for test 3: it compares you with any other individual, owners or not. A cleaner doing 60 turnovers of 2.5 hours has 150 hours, so you need more than 150 (and more than 100). Test 1 (more than 500 hours) does not compare.
- Can I count my spouse's hours?
- Yes. §1.469-5T(f)(3) treats a spouse's participation as yours, whether or not the spouse owns the property or you file jointly. Add them in the hours field.
- What counts as material participation hours?
- Work on the property's operations: turnovers you do, guest communication, check-ins, maintenance, managing the listing. Investor-type work (reviewing statements, preparing summaries for yourself) does not count unless you are in the day-to-day management (§1.469-5T(f)(2)(ii)).
- Do I need a time log?
- Not a daily one: §1.469-5T(f)(4) accepts any reasonable means, such as calendars, appointment books or narrative summaries. A log kept as you go is the easiest to show; Pro pre-fills one row per turnover.
Guides
- Material participation hours for short-term rentals: the 100-hour test
More than 100 hours and not less than anyone else, cleaners included: how turnovers decide the 100-hour test, the 500-hour test and how to log hours.